AMERICAN LEGION: Perk Valley's Davis HR shy of hitting cycle

Perk Valley leadoff hitter Brett Davis is congratulated by teammates on his 4-for-4, four run performance on Tuesday night against Mt. Carmel. He was a homerun shy of the cycle.
Rick Kauffman/Times Herald Staff

PLYMOUTH — Mt. Carmel hasn’t had it easy down the stretch. Three hot teams in two days before a play-in game on the fourth for a shot at the playoffs doesn’t an easy week make. Perk Valley, who realized the importance in claiming a win in the regular season finale meant the second seed in playoffs, threw their ace, Liam Grande, at the Mounties for a shot at a first-round playoff bye.

Grande did his job, but the Raiders’ bats did better.

Headlined by leadoff man Brett Davis, who by the fourth inning was swinging for the fences with hopes of completing the cycle, he scored four runs in part of the Raiders’ 11-4 victory over Mt. Carmel.

“With Liam on the mound, he’s going to give us a good effort, and we know if we give him a couple runs he’ll give us a good chance to win,” Davis said. “When we’re ahead, he throws better and with more confidence.”

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Davis starting things off with a bang, literally, a shot to deep center for a standup double off Mt. Carmel pitcher Matt Pascarella that turned into the go-ahead run in the top of the first. Two innings later, Davis blasted a one-out triple and was scored by the next batter Grande on an RBI-single.

He was 4-for-4 with four runs scored.

“Being the designated hitter, your job is strictly to hit for the team,” Davis said. “I felt good at the plate, this game I just found some holes and hit the ball well.”

Mt. Carmel, unlike the previous evening in a 10-0 loss to Whitpain, came to play Tuesday and made a run at the Raiders in the bottom of the third when Jeff Mikalonis in his triumphant return to center field and the leadoff stop, swapped places with Jimmy Perna on second base on an RBI-double and then scored on Grande’s wild pitch to the backstop to make the score 3-2.

“We had a better approach today, we were actually swinging the bat,” said Mt. Carmel manager DJ Santoro. “I think yesterday we hit rock bottom, today we started to climb out of that hole.”

Yet, while energy and enthusiasm were renewed, the Raiders felt it time to slug their way to the second seed in the fourth inning. Sending 11 batters to the plate, the Raiders scored seven runs on seven hits and saw every man, save for one, reach base. Trent Tyson contributed just as much, however, with a sacrifice fly to deep center that scored Nate Yoder who had just sent home two men on a two-RBI triple.

With 14 hits, 11 runs in just five innings (the game was shorten in lieu of the impending storm), the Raiders gave Grande more than he needed to not only seal the win, but to throw little more than 50 pitches in 3.2 innings.

“They’re going to sit me for the rest of the week and then I’ll play Friday,” Grande said of the upcoming Greater Norristown Area Legion Baseball League playoffs. “It was a big confidence booster to go out and get this win today, it’s a big motivator on the pitcher’s mound to have that backup.”

While Davis made waves in the game, it was Austin DiBonaventure for the Mounties who claimed the batting title in the GNALBL. In going 1-for-3, DiBonaventure with an average of .556 in 47 plate appearances (20-for-36) narrowly edged Greg McDonough of Whitpain who hit .529 in 62 plate appearances (27-for-51). The only higher average was John Turner of Perk Valley who hit .579, but only had 21 at-bats in 31 plate appearances — he went 0-for-2 with two walks on Tuesday.

A managers meeting that went late on Tuesday night would determine the Most Valuable Players, league awards and will set the format for the upcoming playoff schedule. As it stands, Valley Forge will play at Mt. Carmel Wednesday at 5:45 p.m. for the sixth seed in the playoffs that start Friday.